Broken
by skyspireskit3
Summary: Christmas Eve, Gotham is in chaos, and the Batman’s one rule is put to the test. BrucexJoker
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

The Batman stands bleeding  
cape and gloves in shreds, armor cracked and torn  
blood trickling wet under the Kevlar.  
Half of the bat-shape on his breastplate is gone  
revealing a patch  
of the bare human self underneath.  
The tired Batpod rests against him.

Before him, Gotham burns.

-

It happened just hours ago.

Hundreds of families huddled around their televisions  
watching the bright splashes of Christmas specials and commercials.  
Outside  
snow, as much as Gotham ever gets, falling gray as ash  
from the smog-choked skies,  
slushed black along the roads.  
Then the TV screens went blank, buzzed  
and the Christmas characters were all replaced  
by the sparse ivory shades of a news program.  
Something was wrong, the newscaster was pale and crying, mascara oozing down her face. Was that blood over her eye? Her voice shook  
as she read the papers in her hands,  
"'H-h-heh-hello, Gotham. Th-th-things h-h-have b-b-been so  
s-suh-slow lately, haven't th-th-they.  
W-what w-w-with the h-huh-holiday season,  
a-a-all the ru-ruh-ruh-rushing around, t-t-trying…trying to-'"  
Off camera came a roar, "DON'T STUTTER!"  
and she jumped and went on.  
"S-s-so I'm going to…to relieve you of your m-m-m-monotony.  
I wuh-wuh-will g-g-give you a huh-holiday you  
won't…forget.  
By muh-midnight tonight, I want…three-hundred…  
p-p-people d-d-d-d…"  
The camera shifted, the newscaster disappeared,  
there came a scream and then  
the skull-white face  
of the Joker filled the screen.  
"So, bottom line,  
I want three-hundred people  
in this city dead in the streets by midnight. I don't care who you kill,  
I'm not a biased kind of guy, I don't care how you get it done.  
Just do it. Or I will blow up half this city.  
Oh, and don't think you can just scurry and hide  
in the other half…  
it might be _that_ one."  
His laughter, and the screen went black.

People stared in their homes in blank-eyed terror.

Bruce Wayne rocketed up out of his chair  
and ran to get his gear.

-

Now

One hour until the bombs blow  
and already Gotham began to crumble.

Chips are down, let the cannibalism begin.

The police swarm the streets on bikes, cars, horses  
trying to keep the mobs from ripping each other apart.  
It's no use. There are plenty of people happy to pile up  
all the requested bodies themselves  
just to save a son, a mother,  
or their own precious skins.  
Steel pipes dent against bone  
blood runs red into the gutters  
shots bark, and when the police fire back  
the mob turns upon them.  
The horses scream, snapping like dogs  
dragged down so hard  
their legs splinter like twigs on the pavement.

The Joker watches. He imagines  
he can hear the screams.  
Ah. Their cooperation is welcome, but  
there's no way  
they'll make it to the deadline.  
He smiles  
half endearing, half frustrated  
at the thought of the Batman raging and shrieking  
against the one thin string  
that holds him back.  
_Only 'cause_ _you _want _it to_.  
There is a slight damper,  
easily squashed but there  
that if he pulls this off there's no way in hell  
Bruce is giving him any tonight.

All night Batman has fought  
through dogs, thugs, guns and knives.  
He found  
one, only one, of the planted bombs, now strapped to his Batpod,  
and the building the Joker plans to watch the riots from.  
He holds a walkie-talkie connecting him with Gordon  
but something is wrong with his end. He can still hear  
Gordon yelling  
but Gordon can't seem to hear him.  
There's no more time.

The Joker watches the city as it squats under the bleak sky.  
_Are you out there, Batman? What will you do? What will you do?_

Batman stares at the building, imagining the Joker  
somewhere in there, holding his  
deadly toy.  
He can almost hear the city screaming.  
To save Gotham, he'll have to send the rigged Batpod into the building  
and set it to self-destruct.  
The detonator is cold in his bleeding hands.

Just like that  
the barrier cracks  
like a scab picked at for too long.  
Memories burst free, the mask can't keep them out:  
_blinding white skin, twining bodies, arching backs, lips and tongues_  
_the warmth of not being alone_  
The Joker's smile. _"What would I do without you?"_

The Joker rubs his thumb lovingly over the button.  
He's shaking. Surely no kid at Christmas  
was ever so happy.  
His hand is numb and cold, he's missing a glove  
where a dog bit him earlier. His blood drips  
from the detonator onto the floor  
and his grin splits his scars.  
He can already see it,  
the sunset-bright petals  
of destruction  
unfolding.  
Ready.  
Now.

Gordon. "Batman! BATMAN!!"

_No_

_"What would _you_ do without _me_?"_

Finger  
bloody  
freezing  
clamps  
down.

And the skyline of Gotham  
blooms red.  
Smoke black and warped  
as the mind of a madman.

Batman runs through the fire.  
Oblivious to the heat, his insides burning  
so hot they're freezing  
numb.

Nearly trips on a chunk of the ruined Batpod.  
He sees a pale hand  
reaching up  
from the rubble,  
falls to his knees in the hot red ash  
and plunges his hands in and digs.

The face he uncovers is almost  
unrecognizable  
the painted skin charred black,  
one eye a ruined socket filled with steel shards.  
Gently, so gently  
Batman lifts him into his arms.  
The Joker's good eye stirs, cracks open  
and what's left of his mouth quirks  
tired and happy, like a proud parent  
with just a little gloating mixed in. Blood bubbles up  
but he doesn't cough.  
"So…how's it feel down here in the dirt with the rest of us?" He laughs.  
The remark brings no anger. Everything  
that lives inside Batman  
is spilling into the ashes with the Joker's blood.  
"Shhh, don't talk." Batman holds him closer, and the Joker  
starts to say something else, then actually quiets  
resting his cheek  
against the warm patch of skin where the breastplate is torn,  
listening to the familiar thrum  
of his lover's heart  
same as he has every night for so long.  
There are no walls  
left anymore.

_Hot mingling breath, groans and whispers, lips tracing scars_  
_panting and blind in the dark,_  
_so many nights before of nothing_  
_now everything_

Hot tears spill from beneath the mask  
and the Joker's tongue catches one like a snowflake.  
He licks the salt along his lips, opens his eye again  
smiles,  
"Hey…  
I had fun."

Batman holds him close until  
he's gone.

Sirens squall,  
someone (Gordon?) shouts hoarsely,  
meaningless flutters of sound  
a world away.  
In the heat of the flames  
the wetness on his face  
disappears  
into vapor.

-

Months pass

Night after night Gordon waits by the newly-repaired signal,  
watching the shadowy bat hover in the sky.  
He knows Batman sees it, that he's out there fighting  
but he never comes by anymore.  
(The press came up with the idea the Joker was caught by one of his own bombs  
but Gordon knows the Joker was too smart for that. So does everyone else.  
But why rock the boat?)  
Gordon remembers that night long ago when the Joker was in his cells  
and the talk the maniac had with Batman,  
about the one rule Batman has  
and now it's broken.  
But the Joker had to die, there was just no other choice.  
Gordon sips his styrofoam coffee and hopes that  
someday  
the Batman will see.

What Gordon doesn't know  
is that Batman _does_ know  
but not quite like Gordon thinks.  
The Joker had to die  
because  
Batman almost  
couldn't kill him.  
That split second of hesitation  
before his finger touched the button.  
Never before,  
not for Rachel,  
Alfred,  
anyone  
had he ever come so close  
until this madman who only ever wanted  
to watch the world fall.  
The Joker had to die because there was a moment  
when Batman would have sacrificed it all  
Gotham,  
the lives of innocents,  
for him.  
Batman knows now  
he will forever give his all  
to the people of Gotham  
even when he no longer remembers why.

Bruce Wayne  
has vanished  
from the public's hawk-eye  
no more parties, fundraisers, or drunken fiascos  
while the tabloids spew garbage about rehab and illness ("BRUCE WAYNE DYING! Distraught Butler Tells All!")  
He stays locked in his house, not speaking  
even to a worried Alfred  
only going out  
when the batsignal calls.  
The streets are swept spotless  
its night scum shiver together and agree, after witnessing  
their friends and underlings pounded into wet chunks on the pavement  
where before there would have been only  
a bruise or two, and a drop off at the slammer,  
that if that fuse of the Batman's  
ever seemed ready to blow  
and scatter mauled bodies for blocks  
it's now.  
Plenty of theories, but no one can guess why.

Now  
Bruce sleeps only  
on cold stone floor  
because his bed  
is one he no longer recognizes.

But no matter where he goes, where he sleeps  
day or night,  
the dream always finds him  
where the Joker comes in again like a waif from the night  
and wraps around Bruce  
like a solid streamer of white moonlight  
and whispers,  
"I've had a vision  
of a world without chaos  
and it was just  
so  
fucking  
_dull_  
I fell asleep.  
So don't worry,  
I'm here  
I'll always be here  
'cause without chaos  
this little world of ours  
loses that spicy edge that keeps it interesting."  
Bruce reaches out for him  
with the desperation of the drowning,  
but all there is  
is the aftertaste of a ghost  
and the salt burn  
of his tears.

* * *

Please keep in mind this is a "what-if" fic. Not terribly happy with it, so I might try to revise and repost it later, but I will be unable to access the Internet for an indefinite period of time, so this will be the last you hear of me for a while. This will probably not be the last of my BrucexJoker fics, just because I can't get enough of them. For the record, I am working on a chaptered story for this paring, I'll see how that goes.


	2. ATTENTION!

Update:

I'VE BEEN PLAGIARIZED!!

Somebody on Deviantart called "mabfefe" posted a fic VEEERRRRYYYYY similar to mine.

Coincidence? I think not. The only place the REAL fic can be found is HERE!!


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